THE GRACE OF WILD THINGS

Aven Shore's youthful, melodramatic narration perfectly suits this witchy ANNE OF GREEN GABLES retelling. Nobody wants to adopt Grace from the orphanage, so she runs away to apprentice herself to the witch in the woods nearby. The witch, voiced with an impatient, curmudgeonly tone, would sooner devour Grace than teach her magic. So Grace offers to learn every spell in the witch's grimoire or willingly give up her magic. Shore's tone softens as the two bond throughout the story, and she delivers their banter with comic results. Grace's "crow familiar," Windweaver, who is given a reserved voice, accompanies Grace and her new friends, both human and fairy, as they work to gather spell ingredients both familiar and obscure. A great listen for the whole family. A.K.R. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2023]